what a waiter has said to him."

"No, sir, but----"

To stop him I had to say:

"And, ah, William, your wife is a little better. She has eaten the
tapioca--all of it."

"How can you know, sir?"

"By an accident."

"Jenny signed to the window."

"No."

"Then you saw her, and went out, and----"

"Nonsense!"

"Oh, sir, to do that for me! May God bl----"

"William!"

"Forgive me, sir, but--when I tell my missis, she will say it was
thought of your own wife as made you do it."

He wrung my hand. I dared not withdraw it, lest we should waken the
sleepers.

William returned to the dining-room, and I had to show him that, if he
did not cease looking gratefully at me, I must change my waiter. I also
ordered him to stop telling me nightly how his wife was, but I
continued to know, as I could not help seeing the girl Jenny from the
window. Twice in a week I learned from this objectionable child that
the ailing woman had again eaten all the tapioca. Then I became
suspicious of William. I will tell why.

It began with a remark of Captain Upjohn's. We had been speaking of the
inconvenience of not being able to get a hot dish served after 1 A.M.,
and he said:

"It is because these lazy waiters would strike. If the beggars had a
love of their work, they would not rush away from the club the moment
one o'clock strikes. That glum fellow who often waits on you takes to
his heels the moment he is clear of the club steps. He ran into me the
other night at the top of the street, and was off without apologizing."

"You mean the foot of the street, Upjohn," I said, for such is the way
to Drury Lane.

"No; I mean the top. The man was running west."

"East."

"West."

I smiled, which so annoyed him that he bet me two to one in sovereigns.
The bet could have been decided most quickly by asking William a
question, but I thought, foolishly doubtless, that it might hurt his
feelings, so I watched him leave the club. The possibility of Upjohn's
winning the bet had seemed remote to me. Conceive my surprise,
therefore, when William went westward.

Amazed, I pursued him along two streets without realizing that I was
doing so. Then curiosity put me into a hansom. We followed William, and
it proved to be a three-shilling fare, for running when he was in
breath and walking when he was out of it, he took me to West
Kensington.

I discharged my cab, and from across the street watched William's
incomprehensible behavior. He